1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a food preparation apparatus, and more particularly, to steam cooking devices that can draw energy from portable fuel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Steam cookers are widely used in commercial food service applications because they can rapidly cook or reheat large quantities of food while maintaining excellent food quality. In order to heat and/or cook food in a steam cooker, water is heated until it changes phase to become steam. The steam is then circulated through the cooker using a fan or other circulation mechanism, which allows the steam to contact the food and increase the temperature of the food.
In some commercial settings, this steam is sometimes generated using a heater powered by utility-grid energy sources, e.g., electricity or piped-in natural gas. These heaters may direct heat to a heat sink, which in turn transfers the heat to the water source. This heat transfer occurs by convection of the gases in the steam cooker, conduction through those gases, and radiation. Efficiently utilizing each of these heat transfer methods is desirable.
An improvement over the foregoing is desirable.